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Samsung smashes Apple as smartphone explosion continues in Q2

High-end smartphone sales growth might be slowing, but that didn’t stop the global smartphone market from growing 52.3% on-year in the second quarter. IDC on Thursday night issued its Q2 2013 shipment estimates following the release of Samsung’s audited second-quarter results, which showed that the company earned a record $6.9 billion in profit on revenue that reached $51.7 billion. The firm estimates that Samsung shipped 72.4 million smartphones last quarter, good for 30.4% of the global market. While those shipment figures mark a new record for Samsung, its market share slid from 32.2% in the second quarter last year as smaller vendors LG, Lenovo and ZTE each gained market share.

Apple was still the No.2 smartphone vendor by volume in the second quarter this year, though IDC continues to compare Apple’s end-user sales to other companies’ channel sales so the figures are inherently off. According to IDC, the 31.2 million smartphones Apple sold last quarter were good for 13.1% of the global market, down sharply from 16.6% in the same quarter last year.

LG stayed in the third spot globally, having shipped 12.1 million smartphones good for a 5.1% share of the worldwide market. Lenovo and ZTE rounded out the top-5 according to IDC, with shipments totaling an estimated 11.3 million (4.7% market share) and 10.1 million (4.2% market share) units, respectively.

According to IDC, global smartphone shipments totaled 237.9 million units during the second quarter.

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Rival market research firm Strategy Analytics issued its smartphone market share estimates on Thursday night as well, and while the numbers vary the picture painted remains the same.

The firm says Samsung shipped a record 76 million smartphones in the second quarter, good for a 33.1% share of the global market. Strategy Analytics suggests Samsung’s market share grew from 31.1% a year earlier, whereas IDC suggested its market share declined.

Apple’s 31.2 million iPhones accounted for 13.6% of all smartphones shipped in the second quarter according to Strategy Analytics, though as is the case with IDC, the firm makes no distinction between sales to distributors and sales to end users. Strategy Analytics notes that this is a three-year low for Apple’s smartphone market share, and a year-over-year decline from 16.6% in the second quarter last year.

Strategy Analytics estimates that a total of 229.6 million smartphones were shipped during the second quarter this year, up from 156.5 million in the same quarter last year.

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“Samsung grew 56 percent annually and shipped a record 76.0 million smartphones worldwide, capturing 33 percent marketshare in Q2 2013. Samsung shipped over two times more smartphones than Apple during the quarter,” Strategy Analytics’ executive director Neil Mawston said. ”The flagship Galaxy S4 model experienced solid demand in China and worldwide and helped to lift volumes. Samsung’s next major flagship launch is likely to be the rumored Note 3 model later this year.”

Mawston continued, “Apple shipped 31.2 million iPhones worldwide in Q2 2013, up from 26.0 million a year earlier. Apple grew just 20 percent annually during Q2 2013, which is less than half the overall smartphone industry average of 47 percent. Apple’s global smartphone marketshare of 14 percent is at its lowest level since the second quarter of 2010. The current iPhone portfolio is under-performing and Apple is at risk of being trapped in a pincer movement between rival 3-inch Android models at the low-end and 5-inch Android models at the high-end.”